'How I Spent My Summer Vacation' review: Mel Gibson goes south

From the very start, this pulpy crime thriller hits you in the face with a Tarantinoesque blast of bullets, blood and gallows humor. Mel Gibson is one of a couple of clowns - red lips, wigs and everything - who are chased down by the Mexican police after a bungled heist. From there it's a short hop to El Pueblito, a party-town prison camp in Tijuana that has the feel of Butlins, post apocalypse.

It's much sunnier in Mexico, of course, but the tone is black as hell, recalling grindhouse movies from the '70s. As the hapless gringo (also referred to as 'Driver'), Gibson sets the mood with a desert-dry voiceover that leaves us in no doubt: this is a career criminal who rolls with the punches and never stays in one place long. Within minutes, he's working out the angles for a swift exit.

Driver has the benefit of secondary eyes and ears belonging to a 9-year-old kid (Kevin Hernandez) whose mom (Dolores Heredia, a beauty worn by time and grief) has been banged up for drugs trafficking. However, it's the boy's liver that is of greater interest to dodgy prison director Javi (Daniel Gimenez Cacho) because he needs a transplant and no-one else is a match.

Naturally, Driver forms an attachment to the kid and his mucho flirty madre that complicates the escape mission.

There's also the small matter of trying to pacify the greasy kingpin he stole from (that's Peter Stormare hamming it up) whilst trying to broker a deal with Javi to secure his freedom.

It's an intricate web that Driver is caught in, but all the double dealing takes second place to frequent explosions of violence - among them a western-style showdown, complete with Stetsons. Any rhyme or reason becomes drowned out in the noise and this feels like a strategic move by director Adrian Grunberg (second unit on Gibson's Apocalypto) to create a distraction.

Essentially, this is an exercise in style over substance with Grunberg and Gibson (who also co-wrote the script) tipping their hats to crime flicks and westerns of a bygone era. That's not to say it isn't fun. On the contrary, there are some great moments, like Gibson doing a snigger-worthy impression of Clint Eastwood - one of many bizarre plot devices that take the story out of the realms of reality.

By extension, the cheeky humor takes the sting out of unremitting violence (though, after scene one, it isn't too gory), but it also dampens the emotional impact of Driver's move to help the boy. Gibson has funny repartee with Hernandez and it helps soften the edges of his character, but the business of the liver transplant feels like a subplot lifted from a Mexican soap opera.

The op forms part of a wild finale, where Grunberg again shifts into a higher gear. Gibson does well to keep up with all the madcap action and he brings a steeliness that echoes his work in Payback and Edge of Darkness. The difference is the added, playful sense of humor, and while the combination can sometimes grate, this Summer Vacation still beats the hell out of the average holiday video.